You walk into Barnes & Noble and see an ex-boyfriend’s name emblazoned across a book that is a thinly-veiled (we’re talking Kate Moss thin) recounting of your life together. Oh, and your name has been replaced with “my fat-assed girlfriend.” Salt meet wound.

Sounds like the start of an amazing screenplay, right? Sadly (actually, thankfully … but we’ll get to that in a second) for Hilary Winston, this wasn’t one of her scripts, this was real life. But instead of constructing voodoo dolls, stocking up on throwing eggs or creating hordes of fake Amazon accounts to litter her ex’s Customer Review section with scathing comments, she chose to be constructive and tell her side of the story.

And yes, revenge may have been the initial intent, but over the two plus years it took to finish “My Boyfriend Wrote A Book About Me,” Hilary’s perspective shifted and she ended up with an unflinchingly honest tome that is so insightful and funny, it’s no surprise Lorne Michaels has hired her to turn the book into a feature film!

PopWrap: It’s bizarre — having read the book, I feel like I know you. Was it tough to put so many personal stories into the ether?

Hilary Winston: Yea, you know a lot about me [laughs]. The thing is, in order to remember these stories well enough to write about them, you have to relive it. So I have to put myself back in those awful situations that your instincts tell you to forget about. But I got into comedy by reliving those moments until they were funny. The first time you tell a story, it hurts. The second time is sad, the third time is pathetic and the fourth time is funny. You have to go through that cycle.

PW: How long did it take you to go from “that son of a bitch” to this book?

Hilary: Quite a while. About two and a half years. And thank god it did, because it would have been a very different book if it came out quickly. But the real reason I wrote this book was because I wanted to be the voice for women. History is written by the victor. It’s written by the one who does the breaking up and goes to the bar and tells his buddy “yea, that chick was crazy.” Well, I wanted to be the voice of the chick who was crazy. But in order to do that you have to admit you’re a loser [laughs]. That’s why I had to reveal all the nitty, gritty, handjob-y details that no one talks about.

PW: Did you prepare your ex, Kyle, for the book?

Hilary: I did. Anything that was super revealing – except his white nut hairs, I was always putting that out there – I asked him about before I wrote it. I talk a bit about his family, nothing bad, but still, it’s family. There were also some things about his alleged OCD-ness that I wanted to make sure he was okay with because I didn’t want to do to him what he did to me.

PW: Has he read the book?

Hilary: Yea, he’s read the book. He is a narcissist – he actually called me one time to say, “I heard you called me a narcissist.” I mean, that right there is all the proof I need! But he doesn’t have a problem with the book because, for a narcissist, it’s so awesome for one of your exes to write a book about you? What he hated were the chapters about the guys I dated after him. As if I was supposed to retire my vagina up on a shelf.

PW: What about the converse — have you ever read his book from cover to cover?

Hilary: I did. I went to Hawaii by myself specifically to read it. Then, weirdly, I read that Columbine book right before because I wanted to put it in perspective [laughs]. Way worse things in the world happen. But let it be known that book had just come out. It’s not like I was searching Amazon for “depressing non-fiction.” So I read Kyle’s book and I was hurt by things I wasn’t expecting to be hurt by. Mostly the overall attitude of the book, which is “every women is a bitch with a different face.” That’s really hard to hear from a guy you thought you almost married. There were also other small tweaks to stories that I felt really sold me out. It just felt lazy to take details from real life instead of inventing them. For me, it was important that my book be in the non-fiction section. This is how it is. Sorry mom & dad.

PW: I know you’re turning the book into a movie for Lorne Michaels — any thoughts on who should play Hilary Winston?

Hilary: I’ve narrowed it down to Rachel McAdams or Anne Hathaway. I mean, they have to gain 50 pounds for the role, but I picked them because they seem like regular girls. I believe Anne Hathaway has given an accidental handjob … although now she won’t do the movie once you put that out there [laughs].